Isabella Guinigundo, communications director of Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, leads chants at the Earth Day protest. Credit: Caleb Blake

Mother Nature spared Ohio Youth for Climate Justice from the rainstorm as 40 protesters marched across campus Saturday to demand transparency with Ohio State’s investments in fossil fuels.

The youth-led group, a statewide organization that seeks change in policies related to climate change, joined the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Columbus Revolutionary Study Group this Earth Day in marching from Bricker Hall to the Office of Investments building on Lane Avenue. They called down students from north campus dorm buildings, handed out flyers and chanted demands for combating climate change before holding a banner from the Lane Avenue parking garage.

Mariel Trinidad, a fourth-year in international relations and strategic communications and Ohio Youth for Climate Justice member, said the group organized the event because students deserve to know where their money is going.

“We are hoping that the Office of Investment will be more transparent with their funds. A few years ago, we knew there were direct funds going into fossil fuels, but now it’s obscure,” Trinidad said. “We know there are indirect funds going into fossil fuels, and we just want them to be transparent with how much is going to that.”

Trinidad said this Earth Day protest is different from some of the group’s previous protests, which focused more on encouraging Ohio State’s full divestment from fossil fuels — including Ohio State’s combined heat and power plant. 

Trinidad said the group isn’t necessarily expecting a response from the university but is encouraging the information to be released by the summer. After this, they will call for a whistleblower from the Office of Investments to share the figures for students to see. 

University spokesperson Chris Booker said in an email “Ohio State is dedicated to sustainability, combating climate change and aggressively addressing the university’s carbon footprint.” 

“Ohio State has reduced carbon emissions by 30% since 2015 by improving energy efficiency, greening its power supply and other means,” Booker said. “Based on economic trends, the university has been actively transitioning our investments in the energy sector in recent years to wind down illiquid investments in oil and gas exploration and production. We have made no new investments in these areas since 2014.”

According to the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, Duke Energy — one of America’s largest energy holding companies that includes nuclear and natural gas plants — is one of the university’s extensions.  

Catherine Adams, creative director of Ohio Youth for Climate Justice and second-year in environmental policy and decision making, said in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, greenhouse gasses must be drastically reduced by 2030. 

“Greenhouse gas emissions aren’t going to magically decrease on their own,” Adams said during the protest. “If we keep burning fossil fuels, we will keep emitting carbon dioxide, and we can’t afford to keep emitting carbon dioxide. We need a transitional way. So right now, Ohio State is fueling the fire with our money.” 

According to the university’s current Climate Action Plan, Ohio State aims to achieve full carbon neutrality by 2050, reducing emission by 55 percent by 2023.

Caralee Shepard, a graduate student in the Department of Entomology, said she found out about the protest from her roommate, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and she thinks it is possible for people and the environment to coexist. 

“It was just really important to me to come out and make a statement about the fact that it’s Earth Day and we need to, as an OSU community, really work to put our money where our mouth is,” Shepard said. 

Adams said Ohio Youth for Climate Justice has met with the university administration twice — once at the end of the fall 2022 semester and once at the beginning of the spring 2023 semester — and they have refused to even consider divesting. 

“They claim there is no pathway to divest. They told us what might exist by 2050 but not right now. They claim the divestment is economically unfeasible,” Adams said. “I point them to the University of Michigan and the entire University of California system, who have both made plans to divest.” 

Booker said the university “affirmed our investment approach in the energy sector in 2018” after a formal review that found divestment from fossil fuels “would not advance sustainability on our campuses and could reduce annual support for student scholarships, faculty positions and other academic priorities.”

Trinidad said the turnout from students showed the importance of Earth Day and what it means to the environmental movement. 

“It’s really important because it points to the larger crisis we are facing. If OSU continues to invest in fossil fuels, they are continuing to invest in this systemic crisis that’s profiting off of our ecological disaster,” Trinidad said. “It’s putting so many people at risk. OSU just really needs to take a stance.”